A Dance That DescribesRaúl de Nieves, Sofia Leiby, David RoesingJune 25th - July 25th, 2016

Complexity theory holds the idea that emergence, or self-organization, is possible within large complex systems. A self-organizing system is defined by spontaneous emergence of new formsof order. Structure freely emerges from within the internal interactions of the system itself: “free order” within chaos. Paradoxically, this theory opposes the idea that systems are computational or algorithmic, including the human brain. Unlike a computer, once our brains have learned a set of rules, we cannot repeat exactly, only recall, learn, and improvise upon those rules. In devised theatre, a troupe takes cues from one another and collude a script as they perform. As decisions are made intuitively, actions are solidified; each individual responds to the decision once it is written into the script. Raúl de Nieves, David Roesing, and Sofia Leiby’s works propose interactions with information and cultural infrastructure via improvised choreography, creating self-organized systems which emerge organically and fractal-like by establishing internal validity, mimicking these phenomena.